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September 2018 - Toby

Posted Oct 31 2018 3:48 PM

Toby

This is “Toby”, he is 12year old feral cat. Toby’s person has been feeding him for 11years. He was accompanied by another feral cat for years but the other cat recently passed away. Toby’s person noticed he wasn’t eating well and didn’t seem to be feeling well. Unlike some feral cats, Toby’s person was able to coax him into a carrier.

Since Toby is a feral cat we were not able to handle him for an exam, we had to sedate him. Dr. Grosser did a full mouth exam and noted loose canine teeth and loose molars. Dr. G also noted live fleas on exam. We recommended doing an extensive dental prophylaxis with multiple extractions while Toby was already under anesthesia. Toby’s person just wanted him to feel better so we went ahead with our treatment plan.

We started with in house lab workto make sure his liver and kidneys could handle the anesthetic for an extensive amount of time, we also performed a feline leukemia and FIV test since Toby is a feral cat that has not been vaccinated since he was neutered by FACE years ago. Vaccines were also updated at this time as well

Flea preventive was applied and we started IV fluids. Toby’s 18 remaining teeth were extracted. A cat has 30 teeth total so Toby had lost some on his own due to severe dental disease. Since Toby’s person cannot medicate at home we gave injectable antibiotic and oral pain medication to put in his food.

Feral cats require veterinary care too. We wanted to highlight the fact that Toby’s person did more than just feed him, she was observant and took note of how Toby was doing and brought him in for care. Since having his teeth pulled Toby has decided being an indoor/outdoor cat has its perks. His person states he prefers dry food over wet and gets on her lap now and is much more lovable. Toby will probably never be able to be handled at the vet’s office without sedation but he is no longer considered feral to his person!